Your Design-to-Production Pipeline, Fully Connected.
Providing access to proprietary AI generative design tools, precision workflows, and digital fabrication capabilities
Kerfstone Digital Manufacturing
Kerfstone Digital Manufacturing delivers two integrated products: the Workforce Innovation Academy and the ForgeLink Manufacturing-as-a-Service platform. Together, they are designed to take participants from digital design file to finished production part and into ongoing professional practice.
Our Academy
Our curriculum covers digital manufacturing fundamentals, precision fabrication, AI-integrated automation, and e-commerce operations. It is offered as a four-week onsite program or a scalable online program, with each module closing on a produced output that contributes to the participant's professional portfolio.
The ForgeLink platform extends access to production capacity through annual subscriptions for individual creators and for small manufacturers, converting each Academy graduate into a continuing operating relationship within the certified provider network.
Our Digital Platform
The ForgeLink Manufacturing-as-a-Service platform is a proprietary software platform providing AI generative design tools, precision workflows, and on-demand production capabilities to U.S. designers, small manufacturers, educators, and creative professionals.
A Growing Market Need
U.S. designers, small manufacturers, educators, and creative professionals need digital fabrication capability but lack access to the training and tooling required to produce it.
The ForgeLink platform addresses this gap by delivering AI-assisted design-to-production tools, workflow automation, and on-demand production capacity to individuals and small businesses that cannot otherwise access precision digital manufacturing infrastructure.
Digital AI Functionality
ForgeLink's proprietary AI generative design tools enable users to create, refine, and iterate designs within the same platform that routes jobs to digital fabrication capacity.
Automated workflows connect each design decision directly to production, eliminating manual handoffs between stages.
Our Curriculum
The Digital Manufacturing & Workforce program advances participants from foundational digital manufacturing knowledge to independent operation of a complete design-to-production workflow.
Delivered across four sequential modules, the curriculum combines classroom instruction with hands-on production work, closing each module on finished output and culminating in a capstone project and final certification assessment.
Module 1
Digital Manufacturing Fundamentals
Module 1 establishes the operational foundation of digital manufacturing, covering the landscape of advanced fabrication processes, design-to-production workflow structure, materials selection, and workplace standards.
Participants move from program orientation through core process comparison, file and tolerance fundamentals, and material and sustainability principles, closing the module with a hands-on workshop in which each participant produces a first finished part from a digital file.
Module 2
Precision Fabrication
Module 2 develops the precision fabrication skills that determine output quality in digital manufacturing, including cut-path planning, machine calibration, tolerance control, quality inspection, and material-yield optimization.
Participants apply these methods directly, producing a high-accuracy multi-part run and completing a practical assignment requiring them to optimize a precision production run against defined tolerances.
Module 3
Automation & AI-Integrated Workflows
Module 3 advances participants into automated and AI-assisted production, covering job queuing and batching, design-to-production pipeline construction, generative design tools, and on-demand personalized fulfillment.
Participants build an AI-assisted automated job in a hands-on workshop and complete a practical assignment delivering a full automated design-to-part project.
Module 4
E-Commerce Operations & Professional Practice
Module 4 prepares participants to operate as independent certified providers, covering e-commerce operations for manufacturers, use of the ForgeLink Manufacturing-as-a-Service platform and its licensed toolset, professional practice and portfolio development, and project and time management.
The module closes with a final certification assessment covering all four pillars and a capstone project of launching a complete design-to-production workflow.
The Forgelink Digital Platform
The ForgeLink Manufacturing-as-a-Service platform is a proprietary software platform providing AI generative design tools, precision workflows, and on-demand production capabilities for U.S. designers, small manufacturers, educators, and creative professionals.
Licensed under two tiers, a Creator / Individual License and an SMB / Small Manufacturer License, the platform delivers AI-assisted design-to-production tools, workflow automation, and access to digital fabrication capacity.
Certified graduates and licensed providers operate within the network, delivering on-demand production services using Academy-certified methodologies.
"Kerfstone exists to move advanced manufacturing capability beyond just firms that can afford to buy it and into the hands of individuals and small enterprises ready to use it."
Patrick Parent - Founder & CEO
Get In Touch
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